Federal
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May 07, 2024
Employment Agency Owner Admits Hiding $10M In Income
The owner of a temporary employment agency pled guilty to filing false federal business tax returns to conceal more than $10 million in corporate income, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
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May 07, 2024
Electric Groups Say PIN Rule May Hurt Energy Credit Process
While three groups representing electric equipment manufacturers are supportive of the energy efficient home improvement credit, they say its product identification number, or PIN, requirement could harm the process, according to a letter released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
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May 07, 2024
Treasury Floats Foreign Trust Reporting Rules
The U.S. Treasury Department proposed regulations Tuesday that provide guidance on the requirements for individuals to report their transactions with foreign trusts to the Internal Revenue Service, including the receipt of large gifts.
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May 06, 2024
10th Circ. Urged To Alter Substance Finding In Liberty Global
To preserve the stability of federal tax law, the Tenth Circuit should reverse a lower court's finding that it needn't determine the economic substance doctrine is relevant before disallowing a transaction's tax benefits, the National Foreign Trade Council said Monday, supporting telecommunications firm Liberty Global.
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May 06, 2024
IRS Urged To Drop Investment Advisers From Donor Rules
The IRS should change regulations on donor-advised funds so that personal investment advisers wouldn't be considered donor-advisers, stakeholders told the agency at a hearing Monday, saying failure to do so could chill charitable giving and would exceed regulatory authority.
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May 06, 2024
Man's FBAR Filing Makes Challenge Moot, 7th Circ. Says
The Seventh Circuit upheld Monday the dismissal of a man's challenge to the constitutionality of filing reports of foreign accounts because after filing the suit, the man reported his bank account, making the case moot.
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May 06, 2024
Texas Health Coordinator Urges Nonprofit Status At 5th Circ.
A Texas company that coordinates healthcare for chronically ill patients should not be barred from claiming tax-exempt status, it told the Fifth Circuit on Monday, arguing that the U.S. Tax Court applied an incorrect legal standard when it revoked the group's status.
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May 06, 2024
Engineering Co. Can't Claim Research Credits, 8th Circ. Says
The Eighth Circuit declined Monday to revive an engineering company's bid for research tax credits for its work on several building projects, finding the credits are limited to endeavors where funding is contingent on the success of the research.
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May 06, 2024
Missouri CPA Barred From Promoting Annuity Trusts
A Missouri certified public accountant accused of operating a charitable trust scheme that cost the government $8 million in tax was permanently barred from marketing tax arrangements involving charitable remainder annuity trusts, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday.
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May 06, 2024
Marcum Expands Into Mich. By Adding Croskey Lanni
Accounting and advisory firm Marcum LLP acquired Detroit-based Croskey Lanni PC, adding six partners and more than 50 associates, Marcum announced Monday.
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May 06, 2024
Clifford Chance Continues 2024 Growth In New York, Houston
Clifford Chance continued its recent aggressive expansion by growing its Houston and New York offices with two attorneys specializing in energy, taxation and mergers and acquisitions, bringing the firm's lateral hires up to 10 attorneys in 2024.
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May 06, 2024
Trump Media Hires Auditor To Replace Firm Accused Of Fraud
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has hired a new auditor, replacing its predecessor firm, which was permanently suspended by securities regulators Friday for alleged "massive fraud" regarding its work with hundreds of clients, according to a filing Monday.
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May 04, 2024
IRS Seeks More Info On Purpose Test In Buyback Tax Regs
The IRS is seeking more information on fine-tuning a test in proposed rules on the stock buyback tax meant to assess whether the principal purpose of a U.S. subsidiary's funding purchase of its foreign parent's stock is to avoid the tax, an agency attorney said Saturday.
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May 03, 2024
Gannett Can't Dodge Tax Firm's Defamation Case
Gannett Co. can't escape a defamation case accusing it of writing misleading articles saying Ryan LLC, a tax services and technology firm, engaged in shady business practices, a Texas appeals court ruled, finding the media giant isn't shielded from the claims by the Lone Star State's anti-SLAPP law.
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May 03, 2024
US Resisting More Scoping On Amount B, Economist Says
In negotiations over the streamlined transfer pricing approach for baseline marketing and distribution functions known as Amount B, the U.S. has resisted calls for additional scoping criteria that would exclude more companies from the safe harbor, a former U.S. Treasury economist said Friday.
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May 03, 2024
Sidley Liable For Ex-Partner's Tax Sheltering, Ga. Judge Told
Counsel for a family of business magnates who say they were duped into an illegal tax shelter scheme over 25 years ago by Sidley Austin urged a Georgia federal judge Friday to let their suit against the firm continue, arguing its defense that the suit is time-barred should be done away with.
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May 03, 2024
Dems, GOP Favor Extending Pass-Through Break, Staff Says
Democrats and Republicans are both interested in extending the 2017 tax law's pass-through deduction, which expires at the end of 2025, though Democrats would like to limit its availability to upper-income earners, a pair of congressional staffers said Friday.
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May 03, 2024
No Climate Law Corrections Bill Expected, Senate Staffer Says
Congress is unlikely to pass a so-called technical corrections bill that would change noncontroversial and revenue-neutral tax provisions in the 2022 climate law known as the Inflation Reduction Act, a Senate Finance Committee Democratic staffer said Friday.
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May 03, 2024
Feds Can Introduce Prior Guilty Plea In Tax Fraud Case
Federal prosecutors can introduce a man's prior admissions of tax evasion in a trial over separate tax crime charges because it could show his willingness and knowledge to commit the crime, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled.
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May 03, 2024
Foreign Trust Reporting Rules Coming Soon, IRS Official Says
The Internal Revenue Service is about to issue proposed regulations that will provide guidance on the reporting obligations for individuals who have transactions with foreign trusts, an agency official said Friday.
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May 03, 2024
IRS Details Penalty-Free Retirement Withdrawals For Disasters
The Internal Revenue Service detailed procedures Friday for taking penalty-free withdrawals of up to $22,000 from Internal Revenue Code Section 401(k) retirement accounts and other retirement plans under the permanent disaster tax relief granted in the Secure 2.0 Act.
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May 03, 2024
HMRC Director Rejoins KPMG To Boost Tax Dispute Offering
A former deputy director at HM Revenue & Customs has returned to KPMG as director of KPMG Law's tax disputes teams, the firm has announced.
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May 03, 2024
IRS Expects Updates To Hydrogen Credit Emissions Model
The Internal Revenue Service expects the U.S. Department of Energy to update a model used to determine eligibility for the new clean hydrogen production tax credit under recently proposed rules, an IRS attorney said Friday.
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May 03, 2024
IRS Program In Miss. Delta Struggling, TIGTA Says
Attempts by the Internal Revenue Service to expand operations to economically distressed areas in the Mississippi Delta have fallen well short of a goal of hiring 160 employees by the end of fiscal 2024, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in a report.
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May 03, 2024
Medical Testing Co. Not In Health Field For Taxes, IRS Says
A company that fills medical testing orders for its customers is nonetheless not a business involved in performing services in the health field for certain tax purposes, the Internal Revenue Service said in a private letter ruling released Friday.
Expert Analysis
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Unconventional Profits Interest Structures Find New Support
A recent U.S. Tax Court ruling should provide comfort that less-than-plain-vanilla profits interest structures, created to achieve complicated economic arrangements, can succeed in generating more optimal tax outcomes, provided the terms are properly drafted, says Daren Shaver at Hanson Bridgett.
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Roadblocks For Cannabis Employers Setting Up 401(k) Plans
Though the Internal Revenue Code and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act generally allow cannabis businesses to establish 401(k) plans for their employees, companies must still pick their way through uncertainties around tax deductions and recruiting reliable vendors, say attorneys at Shipman & Goodwin.
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How Foreign Info Return Penalty Case May Benefit Taxpayers
The U.S. Tax Court's recent decision that the Internal Revenue Service cannot penalize taxpayers for failing to file foreign corporation information returns may give similarly situated taxpayers an opportunity to also avoid penalties, provided they protect their rights before the decision is overturned or mooted by legislation, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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What's Unique — And What's Not — In Trump Protective Order
A Manhattan judge's recent protective order limiting former President Donald Trump's access to evidence included restrictions uniquely tailored to the defendant, which should remind defense attorneys that it's always a good idea to fight these seemingly standard orders, says Julia Jayne at Jayne Law.
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The Nuts And Bolts Of IRS Domestic Content Tax Credit
Recent IRS guidance provides specifics on how renewable energy projects can qualify for bonus tax credits by meeting U.S. domestic content rules, but also creates a qualification framework that will be complicated for project developers to navigate, say Scott Cockerham and Wolfram Pohl at Orrick.
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How Cities Can Tackle Post-Pandemic Budgeting Dilemmas
Due to increasing office vacancies around the country, cities may consider politically unpopular actions to avoid bankruptcy, but they could also look to the capital markets to ride out the current real estate crisis and achieve debt service savings to help balance their budgets, say attorneys at Cadwalader.
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Guidance Adds Clarity To Energy Communities Bonus Credits
Recent IRS guidance on the Inflation Reduction Act's changes to tax credits for renewable energy projects offers much-needed pointers for developers and financing parties, and should allow them to more comfortably incorporate special bonus credits for projects in energy communities into their transactions, say Jorge Medina and Ira Aghai at Shearman.
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Taxing The Digital Economy: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
U.S. tech companies should watch for important developments in international taxation, including the resolution of Apple's decade-old state aid case, growing frustration with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's global tax plan and adoption of the digital services tax instead, says Joyce Beebe at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
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Big Tax Changes For Multinational Cos. In Budget Proposal
The Biden administration’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposes changes that would materially alter decades-old Internal Revenue Code provisions, requiring a shift in multinational corporations' tax planning strategies comparable to that required after enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, say Xenia Garofalo and Kyle Colonna at Eversheds Sutherland.
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SVB Collapse Reinvigorates Bank Accounting Debate
Silicon Valley Bank's sudden collapse revives questions over whether fair value or amortized cost accounting is the most appropriate for banks' financial reporting — a controversy that's crucial for understanding what information could have helped market participants better understand SVB's financial condition, say consultants at Analysis Group.
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Brownfield Renewables Guidance Leaves Site Eligibility Murky
Recent IRS guidance sheds some light on the Inflation Reduction Act's incentives for renewable energy development on contaminated sites — but the eligibility of certain sites for brownfield status remains uncertain, say Megan Caldwell and Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.
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Get Ready For IRS Criminal Crackdown On Crypto
Recent developments at the IRS, from a new operating plan to the announcement of a centralized data center, signal that the agency is ramping up criminal enforcement against those using digital assets to evade tax liabilities — and given its high conviction rate, companies and individuals must prioritize compliance, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.
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NFT Tax Guidance Shows IRS Interest In Crypto Enforcement
The IRS' first ever guidance addressing the federal income tax treatment of NFTs indicates the agency could take a potentially aggressive stance in enforcing U.S. tax laws in the NFT and crypto spaces, which could have a significant impact on the self-directed IRA market, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.